European Commission promises compensation to fruit and vegetable growers

Currently, Edīte Strazdiņa, a representative of the association "Zemnieku saeima" and the chairwoman of the board of the KS "Mūsmāju dārzeji" (Our Vegetables), is participating in an extraordinary meeting of the European Commission (EC) in Brussels on market forecasts for fruits and vegetables after the closure of the Russian market. Representatives of the European Commission announced that member states will receive compensation, but they have yet to reach a common denominator in its distribution.

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Edite Strazdina: "There are two very important issues on the agenda of the meeting - the situation in Italy, Spain and Portugal in the sale of nectarines and peaches, as they are currently in harvest time and the price has fallen by 30-50 % and Russia's ban on importing fruit and vegetables from European Union member states. Representatives of the European Commission announced that there will be compensation for the Russian ban to farmers, but they still need to come to a principle on how it will be distributed. One option is to send vegetables as social support to African residents, receiving compensation for this from the European Commission. Member States agreed to submit information by Wednesday on particularly affected products in each member state, their price drop or the quantities to be destroyed. Latvia will provide information on tomatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. Representatives of the European Commission emphasized that the most important thing at the moment is the fruit and vegetable sector, which is currently in harvest time."

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The representatives of the countries present at the meeting informed about the situation in each member state, and the Latvian representative acknowledged that the situation in Latvia is very similar to Poland, where vegetables and fruits are also imported from Ukraine, which has completely closed exports to Russia.

"Already now, prices in supermarkets have dropped by 50%. We also need to find national solutions to help local farmers, because many of the support instruments are in our own hands."

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In the coming days, the Commission will assess what needs to be done for the legislation and develop a mechanism for disbursing crisis support, and all countries will regularly collect and send information on the situation - especially until the next meeting on August 13 in Brussels.

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Information on the next steps will be updated after the meeting of the member states.

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As previously reported, on August 7, Russia imposed a “complete embargo” on most food products imported from the European Union, the United States and other Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Moscow. The complete embargo is being implemented on beef, pork, fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish, cheese, milk and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway.